


Being a Girl is Hard- Pidge & Bloodstained Clothes

by the_sinnamon_roll_writes



Series: Bad Things Happen [16]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I'm trying my best, Pidge | Katie Holt-centric, Sorta silly, another one that's been done before but I wanted to do it too so here we are, cursing happens, guys I suck ass at tagging there is like no continuity here, only rated T for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 16:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18996304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_sinnamon_roll_writes/pseuds/the_sinnamon_roll_writes
Summary: Periods happen in space, and you can't always be prepared for them!





	Being a Girl is Hard- Pidge & Bloodstained Clothes

_‘Oh crap, this is bad.’_

Pidge had been through a lot in space. Imprisonment, torture, battle injuries- it felt like she’d seen it all. It sort of came with the job description of being a Paladin. But she had been through all that with her team being treated the same way. For some dumb reason, knowing she was the only person on the ship that had periods made her feel agonizingly alone. 

Normally she didn’t have very heavy periods, and she thanked the universe every day for that. However, when she ran out of the birth control she took to help lighten her flow, she knew that it was only a matter of time before she got a particularly bad one. Now it was here. It felt like she’d been taking the pill for forever, and she’d forgotten just how bad it could get until she woke up one morning with her underwear and sleep shorts stained red. 

_‘I should just sit today out,’_ she thought to herself as she stared down miserably. _‘Take a sick day.’_

The minute she said the word ‘sick’ though, Pidge knew that Shiro would be on her case about getting some diagnosis from Coran, and she didn’t want to go down that road. Fucking hell. The best thing she could do was try to hunker down in her room and keep a low profile. If she could keep that up for a week- give or take a few days- then she would be okay. She’d spent enough time cultivating her boundaries; it wasn’t uncommon for her to avoid the others for long periods of time. Granted, this might be a little longer than normal, if she was really unlucky, but what the hell. It was at least worth a try. Pushing herself up, Pidge groaned when she realized she needed to change and clean up. First things first, she needed to grab some new undergarments and go to the bathroom to retrieve a pad. The first part was easy- she had underwear aplenty in her room. 

Then she went in the bathroom, and it all went downhill fast. 

She was totally out of pads _and_ tampons. Fucking _hell,_ could today get any worse?

 _“Hey everyone, meet on the training deck. I noticed a few things in our last mission that we need to go over again.”_ Shiro’s voice rang clearly through the intercoms. 

Apparently it could. Pidge groaned and tenderly rubbed her abdomen. It looked like she was in for a fun afternoon. For now, all she could do was improvise.

_Fucking hell._

•••

Keith was pulling his punches, as per usual. Everyone did when they were partnered with her. Only her. When it was boy against boy (or boy against Allura), then they always went all out. But when it was her, even Keith held back. It was hard to say if it was her gender, her age, or her size that made them so cautious with her. 

She had always found it a little frustrating; she was just as capable as they were after all. 

But right now?

Right now it was absolutely infuriating. She was absolutely sick of being treated like the weakest Paladin. Time and time again, she had proven that she was able to take the hits, and give them back. It was just bullshit that she was treated like this. Distantly she knew that it wasn’t really something to get angry about. She was still getting good training and growing stronger with each session. And if Keith had decided to pick today to go all-out, then she would really be screwed. It was hard enough to beat Keith when she was on her A-game. Beating him in the condition she was in now- crampy, bloated, underwear stuffed with goddamn toilet paper- would be next to impossible. 

But when Keith retracted his hand just as it brushed her rib at the same time Lance was landing a firm punch to Hunk’s stomach, she lost it. “Will you just knock it off already?!”

He stopped, looking surprised. “Knock what off?”

“Holding back! You think I don’t notice it? All of you guys throw real punches at each other. I’ve seen you all walk away with bruises. But _god forbid_ you hit fragile little me. I’m not some flower or something that you need to be careful with. Believe it or not, I can handle a few punches. Hell, I’ve even taken worse out on the field. How am I supposed to become a better fighter if training doesn’t involve some of the risks that are out there? I’m done being treated like... like some weak little kid!” She realized that throwing a temper tantrum wasn’t exactly the best way to prove that point, but she’d _had_ it. And it actually felt kind of good to let it out and see their faces. The surprise there was amusing to say the least. 

“Pidge, we’re sorry. We all know-“

Her lower stomach spasmed suddenly in the middle of Shiro’s speech, and she had to fight not to double over and wince. She had a feeling that the toilet paper she had used to try and protect her clothes wasn’t doing a great job of it. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Everyone watched her storm out in silent shock. 

“Well _that_ was unexpected,” Hunk remarked after the door shut behind her. “Does anyone have any clue what that was about?”

“She’s mad that we don’t treat her the same.” Keith knew that there was more to it, but some naive part of him thought that if they were to fix that, then she would calm down. “So I guess we need to start doing that?”

“I don’t think that I _can_ hit her,” Shiro said, looking uncomfortable. He was protective of all of them, but especially her. At first it had been for Sam and Matt’s sake, but as they spent more time as a team, he’d started thinking of her as a little sister of his own. And he knew that the rest of them felt the same. 

“I mean... it’s Pidge. We all know she’s tough.”

“Well sure. But do you really think you could punch her, Lance?” Keith asked. 

“No. But you’ve never had a problem hitting people,” Lance said. “Why don’t you just stay partnered up with her all the time, and she can get the full training experience!”

Keith scowled at him. It was true; he never held back at all with the others. But even he had reservations about punching Pidge. She was just so _tiny-_ it seemed like one good hit would send her flying across the room. Of course, it wasn’t fair to think like that. There was no reason to think that she wouldn’t do just fine fighting like the rest of them. And she was right about having been treated worse out on missions. They’d all been beaten numerous times out there, Pidge included. She’d been hit, kicked, thrown, stabbed, shot, the whole nine yards, just like the rest of them. Hell, maybe even more so; for some reason, she tended to be a rather popular target with the Galra. 

“Uh, should one of us go and check on her? Maybe find out what else is bothering her?” As Hunk spoke, he slowly raised a finger up to touch his nose. Keith was the first one to notice, and he quickly followed suit. Even Shiro joined when he caught on. Leader or no, he didn’t want to approach her without giving her time to cool off. 

“Yeah, but who? No one wants to-“ Lance cut off when he saw where everyone else’s fingers were, and he instinctively touched his nose as fast as he could. Even as his hand was reaching up, Lance knew that he was the last one. “Damn it! Come on, Shiro, she likes you more!”

“I know Lance,” Shiro said with a grin that let Lance know he wasn’t going to be swayed. “But you lost nose-goes. I can’t change the rules of the game. It’s gotta be you.”

Lance groaned, wanting to complain further. But if they didn’t follow the rules of nose-goes, what rules would be ignored next? First one gets it? _Shotgun?_ There were some rules too crucial to maintaining order to ignore, and the rule of nose-goes was one of them. “Fine. You all suck though.”

•••

Back in her room, Pidge flopped down on her bed and buried her face in a pillow. It was all she could do to keep from screaming into it. At least she had finally called them out. Whether or not it would actually change anything remained to be seen, but she had a feeling that they had started discussing that as soon as she was out of the room. She could hear it in her head- ‘do we start going harder on her, or do we start pulling punches with all of us? We’re big manly tough men, we need to punch each other to prove how manly and tough we are, but we can’t punch a girl blah blah testosterone bull-fuckery blah blah.’

Bunch of crap like that. 

Sighing heavily, Pidge sat back up and looked around her room. She needed to get out of her sweaty training clothes, and into something she could relax in. When in doubt, she always turned to her clothes from Earth. Something about them was comforting. Like a connection to home. At this point, it was really her only tangible link she had. Her clothes and Matt’s glasses. They reminded her of a simpler (albeit more boring) time when she had hardly a care in the world, compared to now. Now the fate of the universe was on her shoulders, and she would take any small modicum of relief she could get. And dressing comfortably allowed some of that. Without wasting any more time, Pidge went about starting to pick up her signature outfit and changing into it. 

Her sweatshirt was just being pulled over her head when she heard someone knocking on the door. Probably Shiro, here to scold her in the nicest way possible and ask why she had left practice early. She wasn’t particularly in the mood for that, but she figured she might as well get it out of the way. Steeling herself, Pidge walked over to the door and opened it just enough for her to see what was needed of her. However, she was shocked to see it wasn’t Shiro. 

“Hey. I was wondering if... you wanted to talk or something?” Lance was surprised that Pidge actually answered the door when he knocked. 

“Did you lose nose-goes?”

Lance nodded. He was even more surprised when she opened the door wider to let him in. As usual, her room was a nightmare. He only took a few steps in before he ran out of space to be without standing on top of Pidge. After he’d taken a quick survey of the room, his eyes landed back on her to find that she was staring at him with an unexpected intensity. “... yes?”

He had a sister. He might know a thing or two. “Um... you were pretty close to your sister, right?”

“Yeah?” Lance could see that she looked incredibly uncomfortable, so he tried to keep his face neutral. He liked to tease her, but if she was looking for help, then he didn’t want to scare her off. A part of him had a feeling that he was about to find out exactly what was bothering her. Although, given the way she had started the conversation, Lance had a feeling he could guess where it was going. 

“Do you know anything about periods?”

So that was why she was in a bad mood. Lance could remember his sister on her cycle. Many of the stereotypes could be over exaggerated, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t still miserable. “I do. Is there... something you need to ask me about them? I don’t have all the answers, but I do-”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just... I feel like shit. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a really bad one. And now that we’re in space, I don’t have anything to help. I left all the necessities on Earth. I don’t have my heat pack. I don’t have any of my pills. And Lance, I’m totally out of pads and tampons.” 

Her voice cracked on the word ‘out’, and made Lance realize just how badly she was feeling. He couldn’t believe that after all this time in space, he hadn’t once thought about the fact that Pidge would have been having her periods. Damn, she really was a champ. But if she was out of her hygiene products, then he could see why she was so upset. That wasn’t exactly something someone could just power through. “Hey, it’s okay. We can get through this. Have you asked Coran about anything for pain? If a heat pack helps, we can put a wet towel in a baggie and nuke it. Wrap another dry towel around the baggie and voilà! Heat pack. As for pads... alright, the only thing I can think of for this one is toilet paper, but we can brainstorm and come up with something more comfortable!”

Lance was really trying to perk her up. He was surprisingly knowledgeable about periods- more so than she had expected. She had made the right choice in talking to him. He was taking this seriously and wasn’t poking fun or getting grossed out. “Thanks, Lance. I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. It wasn’t fair.”

“Nah, it’s alright. Apparently you’ve got a lot on your plate. Here, why don’t you sit down and relax, and I’ll be back in a minute, okay?” He was already stepping back and shooting her a cheerful finger-gun by the time he finished talking. 

Pidge sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was more than grateful for Lance, but that didn’t change the fact that she just wanted to curl up and isolate herself from the others. But if he was coming back soon, then she’d rather be at least sitting up when he returned. Surely he’d understand that she wanted to be left alone though. Lance may not be the brightest bulb out there, but he certainly wasn’t an idiot; particularly when it came to social matters. He’d picked up on what was going on with her, and had come up with a few helpful ideas to make it a little less unbearable after all. 

Another vicious cramp, and Pidge looked down to glare at her belly. 

Her heart fell when she saw red staining her shorts. 

The shorts that she had brought from Earth. 

_Fuck!_ Everything was just determined to go wrong today, wasn’t it? Against her will, Pidge felt her eyes start to water. Before she knew it, tears were falling down her cheeks like a goddamn fountain. How could she have been so stupid as to wear her shorts today? White shorts when she was on her period, with no pads or tampons? She knew better than that! But here she was, sitting on her bed, bleeding through her goddamn _white shorts._

Another knock at the door surprised her and interrupted her self-pity tear fest. It couldn’t have been Lance- he would just let himself in. Which meant it was someone else. Damn it. Why couldn’t they just leave her be? Had she not made her point earlier? Were they really so dense that they didn’t get that she wanted to be left _alone?_ Pidge sniffed and tried to wipe her cheeks off, without actually accomplishing anything. “What?”

She made no move to go open the door, and she certainly hadn’t meant for her curt answer to be an invitation. Apparently Shiro misread that as well though, because her door slid open just a moment later. 

“Hey Pidge, I just wanted to say-“ Shiro froze when he saw that Pidge was crying and immediately went into dad-mode. “Katie, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Was that why you left?”

Then Lance came in behind him, carrying a hot pack and a blanket in one hand, and a steaming cup with a lid that was half on in the other. She looked like she was resisting the urge to jump up and run to him. “Lance- I bled through my pants. The only pair I have from Earth.”

“You’re bleeding?!” Shiro was entirely confused as to what was going on. It just wasn’t clicking yet. 

“Calm down, it’s okay. Blood can come out of clothes easy enough,” Lance promised, electing for now to ignore Shiro. He dropped the blanket before sitting down beside Pidge and patting her back. “Here, these should help a little. A hot pack, and some Kaltenecker milk that’s been heated up and laced with that sweet stuff I found in the kitchen. It tastes a bit like hot chocolate. The blanket is one of those heavy ones. Like, it’s weighted. It’s supposed to be comforting.”

Pidge looked at Lance like he was an angel who had just saved her life. “Oh thank _god,_ gimme. Ohh, that’s the stuff,” she said. She had the hot pack clutched tightly to her stomach and was doubled over it. “This is _killing_ me.”

“Here- why don’t you lie down for a little bit? A little rest could help.”

Shiro looked on, wide-eyed and confused. It was clear that he hadn’t grown up with much for female presence. He was almost hilariously out of the loop right now, and Lance glanced at Pidge with a grin. Much to his pleasure, she was smiling too. Their fearless leader, baffled by menstruation. “Do you want me to tell him?”

“Tell me what?!” Shiro demanded. 

“Shiro, I’m fine. I’m just on my period,” Pidge said placatingly. “I feel like shit, but it’ll pass. Eventually.”

“Oh. Crap, and I made you train- Pidge, I’m sorry. If I’d known-“ 

The guilt on Shiro’s face made Pidge groan for what felt like the billionth time today. “Stop. I don’t want to be treated any differently. Normally it doesn’t... hit me very hard. I just don’t have any meds left. Or anything else.”

“Meds?”

“Some people take birth control pills to help lighten it up,” Lance jumped in when it became clear that Pidge was starting to feel awkward. He had the feeling that she hadn’t exactly planned on telling Shiro. Or anyone else, for that matter. He was suddenly wondering if she had even been planning on telling him before he’d come to check on her. 

Shiro picked up on it too. On one level, he wanted to assure her that it was nothing to be embarrassed over. But he also knew that it was considered a more personal matter to some people. More crucially though, Shiro didn’t actually know all that much about periods. He hadn’t had sisters or girlfriends, and his mother had never exactly shared any details about menstruation with him- basically, Shiro had no clue how to be supportive in this situation. “Um- is there anything I can do?”

“Just...” Pidge sighed. There really wasn’t much he could do, unless he could somehow magically make her stop bleeding. “Look. I’m not feeling great right now. Could I get some space? A little quiet?”

“Absolutely,” Shiro said immediately. He was relieved that she was asking something easy to do. “What should I tell the others?”

“Just tell them whatever.”

“Do you want me to tell them the truth?”

Pidge rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Shiro, _I don’t give a shit_. If they ask, go for it. Just don’t make a super big deal out of it, okay?”

Shiro nodded without hesitation, then bolted for the door. He hadn’t thought that part of being in space would be looking after a pubescent girl. Even if it was just by making himself scarce. He was kicking himself mentally for how poorly he’d handled that situation as he left. What kind of leader balks at menstruation? _‘Next time,’_ Shiro swore to himself, _‘will be better. I don’t know how. But it will be.’_

Lance had stayed beside her, looking like he was waiting for her to tell him to do something. Wordlessly, Pidge leaned over and rested her head on Lance’s shoulder with a sigh. 

“Aw, Pidge. You gonna be alright?”

“Yeah. It’s just been a while since I’ve had a period that’s really gotten to me. It sucks. The worst part is knowing that I’m the only one out here that even has this stupid problem.” She sounded so dejected, and Lance hated it. He wasn’t used to seeing her like this. 

“It’ll pass though.” Pidge straightened up and looked at him with what could only be described as a skeptical scowl after he said that. “I know, easy to say for someone not going through it. In my defense though, there’s not much I can say to make any difference at all.”

“I know. Thanks for trying, I guess. I’m gonna take a shower. Wash off the sweat from training.”

“Right. Let me know if you need anything.” Lance stood with Pidge and followed her through the door to the hallway where they both turned to walk in different directions. 

•••

A shower was just what she needed to calm her nerves a bit. By no means was she feeling good, exactly, but she was feeling better. And knowing that Shiro and Lance would keep things with the others under control and give her a bit more peace and quiet was reassuring to say the least. Now she could just pull on some loose clothes- clothes that she didn’t care about too awfully much- and curl up in bed for a while. Unfortunately, as she started searching for comfort clothes, she realized that Coran must’ve been doing laundry; almost all her clothing was gone. So naturally, all she had was the shirt on her back and the relatively clean underwear she had changed into. Because today hadn’t sucked enough. 

“Hey Pidge,” Lance said suddenly, as though on cue, poking his head through the door. For a moment she was startled, but it passed quickly when she registered who it was. “Real fast, I got some black sweats for you. Thought they might feel a bit comfortable.”

It was like he was able to read her mind. Or he had some sort of mental connect with her that let him know just what she needed. Whatever it was, she thanked her lucky stars for that boy. Pidge walked over and accepted the baggy pants graciously, wasting no time in stepping behind the door and changing. The pants were clearly made by Alteans, as they started to morph and adjust to her size until they hung down to her ankles, loose enough to be comfortable, but tight enough to not fall down. Somehow the Alteans had managed to make clothing that adjusted to suit whatever size they were at any given time. She’d never get over how cool their stuff was. 

“Pidge!” She was just stepping out from behind the door when suddenly Hunk came hurrying in her room, past Lance, very nearly bowling her over. A second later, the warm smell of peanut butter cookies reached her and her stomach growled. “You were the one that liked peanut butter, right?”

“Uh- yeah? Why’d you bring me cookies?”

“Ooh, you made cookies?” Lance slid in the room to Pidge’s side at the mention of Hunk baking. Easier to get in on it if he was beside her instead of behind Hunk, after all. 

“Shiro told us all that you were on your period, so I made you some! I just wanted to do something to make you feel better, that’s all.”

Sighing internally, Pidge accepted a cookie that Hunk was holding out for her and took a bite. She had to admit, they were absolutely delicious. Almost as good as her dad’s had been back on Earth. “Thanks-“

Pidge was cut off when Allura walked through the door and stood by Hunk. 

“Pidge, Shiro mentioned that you’re currently going through something called menstruation? I did some research and found that sometimes heat can help with muscles cramping in your abdomen, so I wanted to give you this.” Allura handed Pidge what looked and felt like a large, spherical pillow. “Here, you can turn it on like this- just open the interface on this tag here and adjust it until it feels comfortable. It can also cool you down, if you need.”

“Thank you-“

Although the door was open, Keith still had the courtesy to knock on the wall before coming in and standing at Hunk’s other side. Come on. “Hey Pidge. Here, I had some of these, and from what Shiro said, I figured you could use them.”

Everyone gawked as Keith handed Pidge an almost full box of tampons. Although she had many questions, Pidge reached out and accepted the box with a quiet, “th-thanks.”

“Keith, what are those?”

“Keith, why do you have those?” Lance and Allura asked simultaneously. Both reasonable questions that Keith replied to nonchalantly. 

“They’re tampons, and they help with nosebleeds. The desert air gets really dry, it’s good to have them around, okay? I know that’s not really what they’re for, but they work really well.”

It was clear that Allura didn’t quite get it. Given her vastly different upbringing, it made sense that she wouldn’t have known exactly what they were. But right now probably wasn’t the best time to explain. She would have to wait until later to have ‘the talk.’

“Um... I'm going to go to the bathroom,” Pidge said. Was it just Keith, or did everyone notice she squeezed the box even tighter? She stood up with slightly hunched shoulders, like she was curling in on herself. These cramps were going to be the death of her. 

Pidge didn’t even get to the door before Coran burst through her doorway and into her room. 

“Hello number five! I heard from Shiro that you’re in a considerable amount of pain, is that right? Because if you still are, just take three of these every two hours and you’ll feel like a romphorn’s rear end in the middle of a mud pit in no time.”

She didn’t have the wherewithal to ask him to explain that analogy. Beside her, Pidge could feel Lance giggling, and she glared at him. Shiro was a dead man walking.

**Author's Note:**

> Far more lighthearted than several of the other works in this series, right? I'm pretty fond of this one, I feel like it turned out nicely. Anyhoo, inbox is always open @ https://the-sinnamon-roll-writes.tumblr.com/ so feel free to shoot me a message!


End file.
